Sevian Defeats Robson In Playoff At SPICE Cup Open
GMs Ray Robson and Sam Sevian tied for first place at the 2016 SPICE Cup in St. Louis. Sevian proved to be the strongest in the armageddon playoff and claimed the trophy.
The 2016 SPICE Cup Open featured GMs Le Quang Liem, Ray Robson and Jeffery Xiong as the top seeds. Several American talents played as well, such as GM Sam Sevian, and IMs Ruifeng Li, Awonder Liang, and Akshat Chandra.
The 10th edition of the tournament was held October 17–22, 2016 in the Clayton Plaza Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri (USA) with double rounds on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. The time control was 90 minutes for the game plus a 30 second increment per move, starting from the first move.
Timur Gareyev, who is well known for his blindfold skills these days, was the only player to start with 3.0/3. But then he lost three in a row! Here's his wonderful win from the first round, which saw a long-term queen sacrifice:
The prelude to an amazing game. | Photo Paul Truong.
Garyev also beat Robson, who wouldn't lose another game in the tournament. His win over IM Eric Rosen in round five was very interesting. After spoiling an overwhelming advantage, Robson was just lost at some point, but eventually he won anyway.
Luck was on Robson's side there! | Photo Paul Truong.
Robson's comeback was so strong that he emerged as the sole leader after eight rounds. He was on six points, half a point more than Xiong, Le, Sevian, Durarbayli, and Shimanov.
A rather short draw with Xiong in the final round allowed Sevian to catch Robson. He did so in a sharp Winawer, also surviving a lost position:
Sevian facing the Winawer in the final round. | Photo Paul Truong.
2016 SPICE Cup Ope | Final Standings
| Rk | SNo | Fed | Name | Rtg | Pts | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 |
| 1 | 8 | Sevian, Samuel | 2591 | 6.5 | 48.0 | 37.5 | 35.00 | |
| 2 | 2 | Robson, Ray | 2670 | 6.5 | 47.0 | 37.5 | 32.00 | |
| 3 | 7 | Nyzhnyk, Illya | 2607 | 6.0 | 49.0 | 39.0 | 30.75 | |
| 4 | 3 | Xiong, Jeffery | 2647 | 6.0 | 49.0 | 38.0 | 31.50 | |
| 5 | 1 | Le, Quang Liem | 2723 | 6.0 | 48.5 | 39.0 | 31.00 | |
| 6 | 5 | Gareyev, Timur | 2615 | 6.0 | 48.0 | 37.5 | 30.00 | |
| 7 | 6 | Durabayli, Vasif | 2608 | 6.0 | 46.5 | 36.0 | 29.75 | |
| 8 | 9 | Li, Ruifeng | 2538 | 5.5 | 48.5 | 38.5 | 27.50 | |
| 9 | 4 | Shimanov, Aleksandr | 2639 | 5.5 | 46.0 | 36.0 | 26.25 | |
| 10 | 11 | Chandra, Akshat | 2490 | 5.5 | 45.5 | 36.0 | 26.00 | |
| 11 | 14 | Ashwin, Jayaram | 2468 | 5.5 | 44.5 | 35.0 | 26.50 | |
| 12 | 44 | Troff, Kayden W | 2501 | 5.5 | 42.5 | 33.5 | 25.25 | |
| 13 | 18 | Kaliksteyn, Alexander | 2412 | 5.5 | 41.5 | 32.0 | 23.00 | |
| 14 | 17 | Brown, Michael William | 2431 | 5.0 | 44.0 | 35.5 | 20.50 | |
| 15 | 26 | Grabinsky, Aaron | 2330 | 5.0 | 44.0 | 34.5 | 23.75 | |
| 16 | 10 | Kannappan, Priyadharshan | 2525 | 5.0 | 43.0 | 33.5 | 23.00 | |
| 17 | 15 | Kiewra, Keaton F | 2454 | 5.0 | 38.0 | 29.0 | 20.25 | |
| 18 | 16 | Sukandar, Irine Kharisma | 2432 | 5.0 | 35.0 | 27.0 | 20.00 | |
| 19 | 45 | Leon, Hoyos Manuel | 2488 | 4.5 | 46.5 | 36.5 | 22.25 | |
| 20 | 30 | Rahul, Srivatshav P | 2277 | 4.5 | 42.0 | 32.5 | 18.75 |
Robson and Sevian were declared co-winners of this year's SPICE Cup Open and shared first and second prizes ($5,000 and $2,500). The two did play an armageddon game for the trophy. Robson received five minutes, and Sevian got four minutes and draw odds. In order to avoid a move repetition, Robson had to take too many risks and lost.
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
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